Cam's Fortune

by Odessa Lynne

  “Is that what you do, live with a few bad memories? Buddy, we’ve all got those. Seems like a small price to pay for the damage you did.”

  “I know.”

  Cam scoffed. He sat back and crossed his arms, glaring at Brendan. “I was his prisoner for more than a month after he killed my mate. I turned his boys against him. Kindness didn’t work, so I just took charge. Told them what I’d do if somehow a gun found its way into my cell one evening before Rick showed up for his usual effort at teaching me a lesson or two. I taunted Rick, told him he had to fuck the prisoners because he couldn’t get it up for anybody else.”

  Ian shifted on his seat, and Devon winced and seemed determined to stare a hole in the table in front of him. Cam knew he was making them uncomfortable. He didn’t give a fuck. He wanted Brendan to know everything.

  Cam smiled, cold and hard. “I let him put his hands on me so I could watch him when I stuck the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. I blew his fucking brains across the room and all I felt when it was over was anger. Anger because Henry was still dead. Anger because the renegades everyone was saying were going to run the wolves off Earth were nothing but a gang of thugs and monsters. No one wanted to accept the truth. They weren’t our good men trying to protect us from the evil raging wolves who had turned us into some kind of sexual prey. They were damn thugs.”

  Cam slapped his hand on the table. “And you were one of their leaders. Leaders are responsible for the actions of their people, Greer. You’re mated to the first alpha, and you know exactly what I mean. Henry told me how that shit works. I want my chance for retribution and I want it out of your hide.”

  Devon jumped to his feet. His chair crashed to the floor behind him.

  Cam didn’t move more than an inch at the loud bang.

  “If this goddamn asshole is talking about what I think he’s talking about—”

  “Sit down!” Brendan snapped. He leaned forward. “If that’s what you want, then you can have it. I submit.”

  Ian reached out and grabbed Cam’s hand.

  Cam jerked back, but Ian held tight.

  “Don’t,” Ian said gently. “Let me tell you what we found out about your mate first—your Henry. You need to know before you do something you’re going to regret.”

  “Ian,” Brendan said. “No. I’ve submitted.”

  “I won’t regret anything,” Cam said at the same time, but his stomach roiled and the memory of his dream flickered through his mind. He already regretted something—hurting Rick. If he kept on this path . . .

  But what could he do? As Henry’s mate, Cam had a responsibility, an obligation . . .

  But Rick was also his mate and he had an obligation to Rick too. He’d promised Henry he would honor the culture of the wolves as best as he could as his mate, and that meant honoring Rick by not challenging his alpha’s mate. What the hell was he supposed to do?

  Cam clenched his teeth and shook off Ian’s hand. “You’re not going to change my mind. Henry deserves this.”

  “He does,” Brendan said, hands flat on the table in front of him. “I understand.”

  “I don’t fucking understand,” Devon said. “That shit happened years ago.” He glared at Cam. “You’ve got to move on, you fucker. You don’t and this shit is going to eat you alive.”

  Cam spared not a glance for Devon. His attention was still on Brendan. “I want to do this before your mate finds out and comes to your damn rescue. You know as well as I do he’ll try because he won’t be able to help himself right now.”

  “Alright then.” Brendan’s chair screaked across the floor as he stood. He planted his hands in the middle of the table. “Here?” He looked over his shoulder. Ian had stood alongside him. “Ian, we’re moving the table.”

  “Brendan . . .”

  “Do it!”

  “Goddammit!” Devon said. “I’m getting Kem.”

  “Don’t you fucking move,” Brendan said. He pointed to the wall. “Over there. Stay out of the goddamn way.”

  “This is a mistake,” Ian said, and he wasn’t looking at Brendan.

  Cam pushed up from the table and put his hands on the edge. He caught Brendan’s gaze.

  “Devon’s the only one in this room without healing technology,” Brendan said. “No matter what happens, you don’t touch him, you understand?”

  Cam gave Brendan a sharp nod. They shoved the table aside at the same moment. It raked across the hard floor, the sound grating down Cam’s spine. Across the room, a wide window looked out into the forest, the path away from the house winding through the trees.

  There was probably a wolf out there somewhere, waiting, watching. Possibly even Rick. As good as the wolves’ hearing was, it wasn’t likely they’d have much time at all.

  Cam flexed his fingers. “Come on then.”

  “You do what you want. I submitted. It’s up to you the price you want me to pay.”

  “Fucking insane,” Devon said.

  “I won’t let things go too far,” Ian said. “I don’t care what Brendan said or how big the guy is.”

  Cam lunged at Brendan. Brendan didn’t even try to get away.

  Cam pulled his punch. It still landed with enough force to knock Brendan sideways. He stumbled into the table, shaking his head. Instead of the surge of satisfaction Cam expected, he felt only the burn of cracked skin and bruised bone along his knuckles. The sensation faded almost instantly, but Cam couldn’t get rid of the sick feeling inside his stomach.

  “Submission isn’t about letting somebody beat the shit out of you!” Devon hollered.

  Brendan rubbed his face where Cam’s punch had landed. “I hate to break it to you, fucker, but if you really want to hurt me, a punch like that’s not going to do it. You’re a big guy. Shouldn’t be too hard for you to lay me out and then do whatever the hell you want.”

  “What would be the point of letting you sleep through it?” Cam said.

  “You stalling?”

  Cam punched Brendan again, catching him under the chin and snapping his head back.

  Brendan did more than stumble back that time. He twisted, his knee went out from under him, and he landed on his ass on the hard floor, his impact thudding into the soles of Cam’s boots.

  Cam started for him.

  “Son of a—” Ian cut himself off before he finished. He thrust himself between Cam and Brendan.

  Cam shoved him aside.

  Ian kicked Cam in the knee.

  Pain shot up Cam’s leg. He went down with a startled grunt, jarring hard on his other knee before catching himself on his hand.

  Ian crossed his arms and stared down at Cam. “Henry was one of Rick’s sons, you asshole. Rick thought he’d died like thousands of others in the first heat season, and then Rick brings his mate back to the den and discovers his son was alive for three years after that and mated to the same damn man. It’s not all about you, asshole. Think about somebody else for a change.”

  Chapter 26

  He was living in a fucking veodrama. That was the only thing Cam could think as he stared up at Ian.

  It’s complicated, Rick had said. Or Cam had said, but Rick had agreed.

  That hesitation took on a new, troubling meaning, and Cam couldn’t think fast enough to revisit everything that had happened between him and Rick since they’d arrived at the den.

  He’d been too worried about himself, his vision, his hearing, his grief. His chance to gain retribution for Henry.

  Sweet Jesus.

  Henry had been Rick’s son. Rick was Henry’s father. There was no fucking way.

  And yet . . .

  What the hell did he know? Henry had rarely talked about his parents.

  The wolves mated young, and those who were allowed had children young. During one of their quiet, hidden conversations, Henry had implied he would be mating his first season with someone for that very reason. Jealousy had burned hot and wild in Cam at the thought, and that had been the day he’d finally thrown himself
at Henry, determined to have what he wanted before he lost the chance.

  Henry had said once that his mother would be proud that he’d found a strong mate; he’d said his father was an important alpha. But without his own people’s technology, there’d been no pictures, no contact. No way for Cam to know who to contact about Henry’s death.

  And then he’d used his father’s connections to get himself into the government’s anti-renegade department and had started his first undercover assignment. Contacting the wolves at that point would have been too dangerous.

  “You’re lying,” Cam said.

  “That’s what they call denial,” Devon said. “It sucks. Rick has a lot of kids. Fuck, most of the alphas do. Kem’s just started his own pack and he’s got seventeen of the fuckers under the age of ten. But they still care about them all, and I saw the way Rick flinched when he heard the news.”

  Cam sat heavily on the floor, throwing his arm across his knee for balance. After a moment, he dropped his head awkwardly to rest on his arm. It wasn’t a comfortable position but he needed a moment to think.

  Henry had planned to go back to his alpha and Cam had delayed him. He’d even told Rick that. How could Rick look at him and not see the man that had cost him the life of his son?

  “Fuck,” he said. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Believe it,” Ian said.

  A hand landed on his shoulder. He tried to shake it off. The hand held tight though, and Cam looked over his shoulder to see Brendan standing there.

  “Don’t,” Cam said.

  Brendan did what Cam didn’t want him to do anyway. He ran his hand across the back of Cam’s neck, fingers sifting gently through the back of Cam’s hair.

  Cam closed his eyes and dropped his head forward again. “I fucking hate you.”

  “I know.”

  “Even if I stay, even if Rick wants me to, I can’t accept you as my alpha. I won’t submit to you.”

  “How about we just make an agreement between us? No one has to know but the four of us here in this room. In public, in front of the wolves, in front of Trey and Rick and the others, you act like you can do it. And when we’re alone, when there’s nobody to see, you can remind me how much you hate me, how much I cost you. I’d rather have that than the alternative.”

  Brendan hunkered down beside Cam, letting his hand slide down Cam’s back.

  Cam clenched his fist.

  Brendan lowered his voice. “Rick, he’s a nice guy, and he’s one of the first alphas that made me feel like I could have a home here with Trey. I can’t let you take him away from us, and you would. He would leave here if you wanted him to, if you told him you couldn’t stay. Please don’t do that to him. He needs us as much as we need him. You know it’s the way they work. They’re not like us. They don’t thrive out alone in the world. Rick deserves more than that from you.”

  Henry had deserved more.

  Whether Brendan meant for Cam to think about that or not, he did.

  Was he still the same selfish asshole he’d always been, just fooling himself into thinking he’d become someone better because he’d taken on the care of Mig and Luis and Ava?

  He stared at his clenched fist as the answer hit him hard in the center of his chest.

  Jesus. Of course he was.

  He would choose to try to hurt the man he’d felt was responsible for causing all his pain—even though that man possibly no longer existed—over a new life with someone who might just love him, selfish, reckless man that he was.

  The moment of blinding realization was enough to choke him.

  “I need to go,” he said, abruptly pushing himself to his feet. “Where’d Rick go? I want him to come take me back.”

  Ian pulled something out of his pocket. It was a white square, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

  Cam headed toward the door.

  Devon jumped in front of him and shoved his hand into the center of Cam’s chest. “None of us can leave without an escort, asshole.”

  “Stop calling me asshole.”

  “Devon—”

  The door to the outside cracked open, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “Ah shit,” Devon said. “What the hell, Matty!”

  Matthew wasn’t alone. For the first time in more than a week, Cam laid eyes on Ava. His gaze shifted quickly between her and the others.

  “Heat fight,” Matthew said. “Gerald’s new mate and one of those from the west coast that came in for the season. It’s getting ugly. Rick and Craig are trying to stop it before things get out of control.” Matthew’s gaze landed on Cam. “And one of your boys snuck out of the safe house sometime after the last meal.”

  “I can’t find him,” Ava said, her normally cool voice tightly controlled. “It’s Luis. I think he went looking for Bel. He’s been asking about her a lot.”

  “Where’s Kem?” Devon asked.

  Cam shoved his way around Devon. Someone pulled him back just before he would have slammed through the door.

  “Kem’s the escort. Ash and Ethan are coming along. We’re heading into the woods to start the search.”

  Cam glared at Matthew. “Why the hell are we starting in the woods? Shouldn’t Bel be in a safe house too?”

  Matthew’s eyebrows furrowed.

  Ava said, “Bel isn’t here, Cam. Just me and the boys. He’s probably thinking he can make it back to the bunker.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  Rick had lied to him. Or not lied, precisely, but he’d definitely let Cam believe they’d taken everyone and brought them here.

  Rick had a lot of nerve suggesting Cam liked his deceptions. They were going to have to talk about this shit. They were going to have to talk about a lot of things soon, in fact.

  It took too damn long to organize the search, but in truth, not long at all. Since Ava thought she knew which direction Luis would’ve taken, the majority of their effort was focused in that direction.

  Ash, Matthew, and Ian took the opposite direction, leaving Brendan, Devon, Kem, and Ethan with Ava and Cam.

  “The little shit is good with tech, isn’t he?” Devon asked. He had a computer in one hand and a square white device in the other that barely covered the palm of his hand. One thin cable connected the two. “He went right through the perimeter. Of course, it’s more to keep people out than in, so he doesn’t have to be brilliant.”

  “He isn’t,” Ava said, “but his brother is.”

  “I’ll be having a talk with Luis when this is over,” Cam said. “He’s risked his brother’s neck one too many times.”

  Ava gave him a sharp nod.

  Cam scrubbed his fingers through his hair, trying to listen to the sounds around him and pick out anything that didn’t belong. It was difficult to focus outside the area where they stood waiting on Devon to finish scanning what he’d said were perimeter activity logs because of the rustle of dead leaves and the heavy breath of his companions, the shift of fabric and the whispering of the wolf called Kem and the one called Ethan.

  Ethan was a young wolf with bright eyes, and the adults had a habit of reaching over and ruffling his hair.

  Cam finally couldn’t resist asking the question on his mind. “How old are you?”

  Ethan was staring into the distance, his head cocked and his attention focused, and Cam’s question seemed to take a second to register. But then he looked over at Cam, so serious and intent, and flashed the beginnings of a set of sharp eyeteeth at Cam. “Old enough to protect my alpha,” he said. “Not old enough for my first heat. Maybe the next.”

  “He’s about twelve years old,” Brendan said quietly. “He’s Ash’s kid. Ash is Matthew’s mate.”

  Cam nodded.

  “Their first heat usually happens after about fifteen Earth years, sometimes eighteen.”

  Eleven years ago, Cam had been fifteen. Henry had been as much of an adult as Cam had been then, which wasn’t saying much. At the time, Cam had felt plenty old enough. But now, thinking ab
out Mig and Luis, it hadn’t been old enough. Not at all.

  He glanced down at Ethan, who was already at least as tall as Luis, and who would no doubt start to look very much like an adult of his own species within the next few years, probably well before his fifteenth birthday.

  He glanced away and tried not to think about the past.

  Luis needed him now, and when this was over, maybe Rick would still need him too, despite how they’d left things earlier.

  Cam didn’t regret many of the things he’d done in his life, but he regretted what he’d said to Rick.

  The time had come to let Henry go. He didn’t want to, but he was going to have to if he wanted more of a life than he’d had these last six years.

  And he did. It had been six long years.

  An eternity.

  A few minutes later, Devon finished his search. He used what looked like a standard phone, but with the slick edges of the wolves’ technology, to contact Ian and tell him where they were heading. Cam hadn’t seen anything like it, and he had a feeling he was looking at something alien, made to interface with human technology.

  After that, Cam, Ethan, and Brendan split off from the others. The intent was to surround Luis and snare him before he got outside the den’s final perimeter.

  According to Brendan, outside the protection of the den, the chances of running into undrugged wolves increased dramatically.

  “The prophecy,” Cam said with a studied lack of concern.

  Brendan threw him a startled look over his shoulder. He’d taken the lead through the forest and Cam hadn’t argued. He wasn’t sure where they were; the sat maps he’d studied were useless without reference points, and none of them were recent. The treaty forbade satellite imagery of the protectorate.